The Outdoor Line Forum

I have had a rod blank that I want put together. It will be a 10ft downrigger rod my question to all you guys is this. Has anybody fished with a spiral wrapped downrigger rod ? spiral wrapped meaning the guides are offset as the move down the blank the theroy on this is rod torque is reduced under load while fighting the fish. I would love to hear from any body who has used a rod like this. I think that the idea is a sound one and just want to know if I should spent the time building a rod like this only to find out the idea is not all that its cracked up to be.

Hey J,
Bill Boyce of Fetha Styx made me a 1065 (10' 6" and a 5 power or 15-30lb rating) Spiral Wrapped rod and it's my favorite 'rigger rod.
The handle is graphite so the rodholer has no cork to bite into or eat and the spiral guide pattern and the sheer numbers of guides (15 or 16 if I recall correctly) ensure that the line never contacts the blank!
I have some guys on the boat look at the rod a little goofy but for a rod that lives it's life flexed to the break point, spiral wrap is a great innovation!

I got this blank from Batson about a ago I think I will go ahead and spiral wrap it .
Will I need to build 2 one for each side of the boat?

Negative Ghost Rider

The direction of the spiral wrap is not port or starboard specific but you should build two...

I've fished mine on both sides fo my boat with no issues...except for the fact that once somebody grabs it to fish their side of the boat I can't get it back!

thanks for the input
I will build two but I dont have the pesos for carbon handles so I will go with foam with shrinkwrap .